AP poll: Americans split over safety of drinking water

Residents in Flint, Mich., are facing ongoing water issues after the city began drawing water from the Flint River that leached lead from the city's plumbing. Now, Americans are split over the safety of tap water, with only about half of those polled trusting that their water is safe.
Flint resident Sharon Moore, left, leaps up to shout out her support as she listens to pastor David Bullock during a town hall meeting packed with more than 500 people to discuss the ongoing Flint water crisis on Monday, Feb. 1, 2016 at First Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in Flint, Mich. Flint switched its water source from Detroit's water system to the Flint River in 2014 to save money while under state financial management. The river water was not treated properly and lead from pipes leached into Flint homes. (Jake May/The Flint Journal - MLive.com via AP)

Photo: Jake May, MBI

DETROIT - When it comes to water, only about half of Americans are very confident in the safety of what's flowing from their tap, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll, which found that trust is even weaker among minorities and people with lower incomes.

The lead-contaminated water in Flint, Mich., has been in the headlines for months, and more than half of Americans believe it's a sign of widespread problems in the U.S. About seven in 10 drink tap water, but about half of them first run it through a filter.

"Of all the water systems in the nation, Flint can't be the only one that's faulty," said Elsbeth Jayne, 28, of Christiansburg, Va., who's very comfortable with her own tap water.

Joseph Johnson, 46, of Brooklyn, N.Y., said he only drinks bottled water, spending about $8 a month on two cases. He's among the 30 percent of Americans choosing water off the shelf.

"I've always been under the assumption that water wasn't 100 percent clean. The Flint situation brought more of the story to the surface," he said Friday.

Flint, with a population of about 100,000, was drawing water from the Flint River for 18 months as a way to save money until a new pipeline to Lake Huron was ready. But the corrosive water leached lead from the city's old plumbing because certain treatments weren't added. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, whose administration repeatedly downplayed the lead threat, now calls it a "disaster."

No level of lead in the human body is considered safe, especially in children. The river water also may have been a source of Legionnaires' disease, which killed at least nine people in the region.

The poll found only 47 percent of Americans say they're extremely or very confident about the safety of their drinking water, while 33 percent say they're moderately confident and 18 percent are not very confident or not at all.

Forty percent of African-Americans polled and 28 percent of Hispanics were less likely than whites - 54 percent - to be very confident in their water's safety. Less than 40 percent of households making less than $50,000 are very confident.

"The perceptions are realities," said Marc Edwards, a water expert at Virginia Tech who played a vital role in documenting the lead problem in Flint. "Generally, tap water in the United States is safe. Problems that surfaced in Flint, including Legionella and lead, disproportionately affect poor minority communities."

He said the problems are partly due to the "abysmal state" of old pipes in neighborhoods and homes across the country.

Half of Americans say the federal government should do more to ensure safe drinking water, while 40 percent said the government's role is about right. A regional director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who was criticized for not helping Flint sooner, resigned in January.

Karl Bantom wants the government to be active. He said he and his wife have been using bottled water for years in their Philadelphia apartment.

"When I turn my water on, I get a sulfur smell. I'm not drinking this," Bantom, 55, said. "They should test the water more thoroughly."

When told about the poll results, a spokesman for the American Water Works Association, which represents water professionals, said the "vast majority" of water utilities in the country surpass federal and state standards.